Adam Zucker's documentary focuses on the re-emergence in contemporary Poland of a vibrant Jewish community, a remarkable occurrence given the near destruction of Polish Jews during the Holocaust. Even later, while the nation was under Communist party rule, the few Jewish survivors deliberately suppressed their ethnicity (with some going so far as to hide their lineage from their own children). Zucker focuses on four young women (Kasia, Tusia, Katka, and Maria) who—after learning about their true family background in the wake of Communism's fall—seek to reclaim their Jewish identity in a variety of ways, ranging from outright conversion, to researching the past as material for a novel, as well as becoming immersed in the small community of survivors and their traditions, learning Yiddish, and contributing to rebuilding structures that were destroyed by malice and neglect. And even though the wider and predominantly Catholic Polish society has ironically embraced Jewish culture—its music, cuisine, and colorful practices—all four women must debate whether to remain in Poland or emigrate to places with larger Jewish populations, such as Israel or the United States. Along the way, the women also deal with romance and the possibility of married life. The Return sometimes meanders while juggling its quartet of story threads, but it also shines a welcome light on a heartening movement in what was once a vibrant center of Jewish life, a country where Judaism was also almost completely snuffed out. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)
The Return
(2014) 83 min. DVD: $79: public libraries & high schools; $289 w/PPR: colleges & universities. Seventh Art Releasing. Volume 30, Issue 4
The Return
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